


Life of Olivia

by palsinabox



Series: RPG Characters [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: Backstory, Bards, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, F/M, Original Player Characters, mentions of a past underage relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23789908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palsinabox/pseuds/palsinabox
Summary: Some background stories in the life of Olivia Husam al Din, my D&D 5e bard.For use with my role playing tables, but feel free to read if it makes you happy.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: RPG Characters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1496879





	Life of Olivia

After her fifteen year old brother had finally fallen asleep, Olivia had slipped out of their home to go to a tavern in the Merchant District. 

Everything that she had been doing to get things going to restart the Heroes Guild was really wearing on her. It was a huge undertaking for a twenty year old girl, much more than a regular young adult would want on their plates. If she didn’t take the commitment she had made to her brother and Apollo so seriously, she wouldn’t be in this situation either. 

Even so, she still needed a break every now and then. She was very young to be the acting-mother of a teenage boy, or to be the face of a movement to resurrect a guild. If she had been left to her own devices or had lived a life free of commitment to anyone else, she would have spent every night at taverns. 

She often fantasized about making a living through playing music. She pictured starting small at local places and gaining renown through her own hard work and skill. She loved the idea that she could have become famous for her songs and voice. It would have been a tough life, but it would have been her own choice.

Instead, she spent most of her days filing paperwork and appealing to people for favors. She used connections that were not her own, ones that had been built by her parents in their lifetime through good deeds performed by the former Heroes Guild. Her name got her into a lot of doors that would have been otherwise closed to someone of her age, and she was luckily persuasive enough to know what to do once she was there.

She slipped into the mid-level tavern, the chatter of the patrons and the hum of someone playing a stringed instrument hitting her as she entered. Almost immediately, she felt her whole body relax, knowing that she would just be able to be herself for the rest of the night.

As she approached the bar, she noticed someone that she had only seen two other times in the past four years, by her own choosing: Gulliver Chance. As she always did when she ran into him, she hesitated.

When she had broken off their engagement, she had been a sixteen year old girl who had the power of hormonal fury from both her age and being pregnant on her side. She had mustered a type of righteous indignation that she cringed to think back on now. It had changed every single thing in her life at that moment. 

The next time that she had seen him had been different. She had been eighteen by that point and had been embarrassed, both at her behavior with and towards Gulliver. She had come to terms with the fact that his idea of using her home as a bardic college had been pragmatic, not intended to hurt her, but she had also come to the realization that she had been stupid to be with a man so much older than herself. Ultimately the blame laid with him, being the adult in the situation, but she thought that she probably should have known better, too. 

She had taken his apology at that time for what it was, not good enough to fix anything but also the best that he could do. There was no repairing what had happened to her or between them, but it had been enough for her to let go of the remaining anger that she had been holding onto. 

The two of them had ended up talking quietly and seriously for a good portion of the evening, only leaving once everyone else had already left the tavern. They had ended up spending the night together, something that had been a strange combination of relaxing and ridiculous at the same time. It had been completely irresponsible, but there was also a kind of safety in it since it was definitely not going anywhere. Sometimes she just needed to be a little carefree for her own sanity, and it hadn’t hurt that there were still some feelings involved on both sides.

The next time that she had run into him had been the year prior, when she had been nineteen. They hadn’t had to spend any time on apologies or explanations that time. They had caught up the year before. She knew about his plans and he knew about hers. They had played music for a bit and had some drinks before spending the night in his bed once again. She had been proud of herself that time for keeping her distance emotionally. It had let her know that this was something that she could expect herself to handle.

Now she took a breath before approaching him again.

“Is this seat taken?” she asked, touching his shoulder as she moved to sit on the barstool beside him.

Gulliver looked up at her with pleasant surprise written on his face. It was hard to say if it was a genuine expression or if he had known that she would be there. She knew him well enough to know that she wouldn’t know if he had been acting.

“Actually, my dear Melody, it _is_ taken,” he admitted. “Lucky is around here somewhere. But I think you should steal his seat, anyway.”

“Thanks,” she replied with a smile.

“Fredo, a gin and tonic for the lovely lady, and another for me,” Gulliver called over to the barkeep. 

Olivia took the drink when it was given to her and took a sip. She watched as he took the lime out of his own before drinking it.

“You know, I’ve been telling you for years that you should just order it without the lime,” she pointed out. 

“I know,” he responded with a smile. “But maybe some things never change. Sort of a comforting thought, don’t you agree?”

He bumped her shoulder with his own playfully.

She sighed in mock-annoyance but then gave him a small smile in return.

“How is everything going with your school?” she wondered. “I heard you had your grand opening a couple of months ago.”

“Oh, Liv, you should come by and see it!” Gulliver said, brightening physically to a more real joy instead of the show smile that he had been wearing. “It’s exactly what we wanted to build. I’m the headmaster and Lucky and a few others are teaching. We already have students from three different cities.”

“Headmaster Chance,” Olivia asked, raising her eyebrow in a teasing way. “I like that. Makes you sound like an actual adult and not the man-child we both know you are.”

He laughed good-naturedly and grinned at her.

“Sexy, right?” he responded. “Sometimes I even turn myself on.”

“You are ridiculous, as always,” she informed him. She reached over and touched his hand. “It’s good to see you, Gully.”

Gulliver smiled at her, really looking at her for the first time since she had sat down, and she had to admit that it still gave her a warm feeling in her chest, no matter how much she told herself that he didn’t affect her any more. Somehow he just had a way of looking at her that made her really feel _seen_ in a way that no one else seemed to be able to do. 

“I see I’ve been replaced.”

She turned at the same time as him and saw a blonde man standing behind them.

“Lucas,” she greeted. 

“Look, Lucky, I found my Melody,” Gulliver added with a charming smile to his best friend.

“Olivia,” Lucas returned, ignoring the man he had come with. “I heard that you’ve been spending all of your time in the Council chambers.”

She nodded in confirmation. “I’m getting really close to getting the Heroes Guild’s seat on the Council reinstated. It’s going to come down to one more vote, and I’m fairly certain I have the votes.”

“You always were too good for Gulliver,” the blonde said, pushing on his friend. “If becoming a guildmaster by twenty-five doesn’t prove that, I don’t know what does.”

“By twenty-one,” Olivia corrected.

“Right,” Lucas agreed in a more somber tone.

The three were quiet for a moment, before Gulliver stood up and held his hand out to Olivia. 

“Care to dance?” he offered.

She hesitated but put her hand in his and went with him over to where a few couples had taken up dancing.

“You never could stand an awkward silence,” she said.

“Well,” he responded. “I think we’re well-past the time of needing to rehash anything from our past.”

“It wasn’t all bad,” Olivia stated. “Look at how well you taught me to dance. Where would I be in life without that skill?”

She laughed softly and he smiled thankfully at her for repairing the comfortable tone the two of them had had before Lucas had come over.

“Well, one thing I know is that we could play circles around that hack that they hired as a musician tonight,” Gulliver responded. “Should we grab Lucky and challenge them to a battle of the bands?”

She smiled as he twirled her out and then back in.

“I may have had another thought when I spotted you here tonight,” she admitted, looking back up at him now that she was pressed to him.

“I may have had a similar line of thinking,” he said with a small smirk. “Shall we ditch him instead then, my dear Melody?”

“Yes, let’s,” she agreed with a conspiratorial smile.

“After you,” he said, letting go of her and motioning towards the door.


End file.
